Monkey Island 4 - ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

Having kept us waiting for years for the sequel to Monkey Island 2
Lucasarts now comes up with volume 4 in the series rather rapidly
after volume 3. The look has changed again - it's now 3-D using
the same engine as "Grim Fandango" which means a mouse is
superfluous. I'm not sure why the system cannot be altered to
support a mouse as it would have made navigation a darned sight
easier than the very clumsy keyboard controls but that's the way
it goes. Be that as it may how does this shape up?

For nostalgia I decided to play the games through in sequence.  My
surprise is how well the first two volumes stand up to fond
memories - OK I never found them hilariously funny like everyone
else but they had a magic and freshness about them that has
lasted. Episode 3 was everyone's least favourite but I think time
will judge it to be better than this episode.

I'm not sure why the rot has set in - the humour is the same -
very juvenile and with a number of in-jokes (THX 1138 anyone?).
The nature of the puzzles will be well known to all but apart from
one frightfully difficult one which involves throwing rocks down a
canal in the right order they overall seemed easier than before.
Maybe however that's experience - I've played a few more adventure
games since I first chanced upon Monkey 2. I have my suspicions
that the reason is the fact that everything is now spoken.
Guybrush was never my idea of an action hero but he never struck
me as being such a wimp until we were treated to a soundtrack.
Elaine is such a bitch that for me the best thing was her turning
into a statue in episode 3; no such luck this time. The only
person with any character is now the arch-villain LeChuck - maybe
Lucasarts should consider making him the hero next time!

The plot (if it matters) concerns a nasty Aussie who is forcibly
buying up the Caribbean, exiling or reforming the pirates, and
turning the place into a tourist attraction. Our hero and heroine
arrive back from a honeymoon to find her having been declared dead
and forced to fight an election against a very oily politician who
is of course LeChuck in disguise. To save the day Guybrush has to
assemble the Ultimate Insult - a voodoo curse that causes
immediate subservience to all exposed to it.  Naturally this means
travelling around the various islands, solving problems etc. The
final sequence involves Monkey Combat, which is straightforward,
once you get the hang of it but takes a lot of time to learn. It's
a bit like the part in episode 1 where you had to fight many
pirates before you came up with the correct repartee to insults
only much more time consuming.

Well it has no competitors at the moment - either you replay
"Riven" (God forbid!) or you're stuck for adventure titles. Maybe
the day of the genre is over (although didn't they say that about
RPGs?) However if there are any major titles in development people
are keeping them well under their hat.




                              - o -